ZEALAND’S CRUISER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11855, 11 June 1919, Page 8

ZEALAND’S CRUISER.

LOCAL INTEREST AROUSED. The announcement, made in a cablegram last week, says the Dominion”, that the Imperial Government will hand over to New Zealand “a thoroughly up-to-date light cruiser of between 4500 and 5000 tons” has been received with mocli interest among local members of the Navy League and others regardful of the naval defence of the Dominion. The vessel was stated to be oil driven, but the Admiralty was wil ling, in view of the possible difficulty of securing oil fuel, to substitute temporarily a coal -burning ship of the Bristol class. The exchange would be made when convenient to te New Zealand Government. It appears from a message sent by the official correspondent that the substitute is to be similar to the Sydney and Melbourne, of the Australian Squadron. The Australian cruisers belong to the Chatham class, and are two years later in design than the Bristol. They are thins of 5400 tons, with a nominal speed of 25.5 knots They carry each a complement of 080 men and an armament of eight 6-inch guns, with four 3-poundres and two tor-■nedo-tubss. Since the wax have been fitted with anti-aircraft guns -n addition to their original armament The Ghathams were the first of the light armoured cruisers and the last ships of the type to burn coal The Aurora class, consisting of thrty-knot oil-burning boats, with a three-inch belt of Krupp steel and a main armament ot two 6-inch and six 4-inch guns, came next in order, and were in progress of construction when the *war began. The Arethnsa, a hastily-completed cruiser of this class, won fame at the Battle of Heligoland Bight The oil-burning vessel that is offered to New Zealand evidently belongs to ore of the groups of light armoured cruisers designed and built during the war. Her tonnage is given as between 4500 and 5000 tons, whereas the displacement ot the cruisers laid down in the early months of 1914 was about 3800 tons. There were eight of these cruisers, headed by the Cordelia They burned oil fuel exclusively, bad the same armament as the Auroras, and were designed for a speed of thirty knots, which is known to have been exceeded on trial. The Cordelias wore to be protected by a three-inch belt of steel and two-inch steel decks, but full particulars of the class have never been disclosed. Only one of these boats had been launched in August, 1914. Of the cruisers that were laid down and completed during the war very little information has been made public. The cost of maintaining a cruiser of the kind New Zealand is to possess, if the Government accepts the Admiralty’s offer, is large. The Admiralty estimated before the war that the annual charges £for the upkeep of a Bristol cruiser in commission amounted to £72,000. This figure was based on British rates of pav and British prices. An increase of at least 35 perl cent .'would have to he made to cover colonial rates ot pav and British prices. An increase of at least 25 per cent, would have to be made to cover colonial rates ot pav and the higher cost of manteuance in New Zealand. An oil-burn-ing cruiser of a later type probably would bo even more costly. I